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Lot Essay
In the 1960's lithography and screenprinting were the most popular printmaking techniques by far. They permitted the production of highly finished, smooth images in large print runs without variations or imperfections. These 'advantages' were of little attraction to Baselitz when, at the beginning of his artistic career, he turned to printmaking. Instead, etching and woodcut were his techniques of choice. Both not only offered a greater immediacy - as they allowed him to work directly on the metal plate or wooden block - but he was also able to print them himself, to produce images that 'spoke of their own making'. By choosing these ancient techniques he also placed himself in a long tradition of printmaking that was of great personal significance - the hand-printed Künstlerdruck of the German Expressionists, and of the Old Masters; Dürer and the Italian and Dutch Mannerists.
Baselitz's interest in mannerism, expressed as early as 1961 and reinforced by his scholarship at the Villa Romana in Florence in 1965, lead him to amass a large collection of Mannerist prints and drawings. In the present woodcut Grosser Kopf, the influence of the chiaroscuro woodcuts of the 16th century is evident in the use of a black line block and differently shaded colour blocks. This influence becomes even more apparent when we compare Baselitz's 'Rebels' and 'Partisans', which he painted and printed in this period, with the Gods and Saints of Ugo da Carpi, Domenico Beccafumi, Antonio da Trento or Hendrick Goltzius.
Grosser Kopf is one of the last, and the most monumental, of his early colour woodcuts. As a portrait it stands alone amongst the full-length figures - muscular, almost super-human figures in desolate landscapes. Yet this massive head is also one of those 'fallen heroes': Baselitz simply zoomed in on the head until it became larger than life, and dissected the face until it became a ravaged landscape itself.
The present impression, richly printed with an almost impasto effect in dark brown, green and black on a flesh-tone base, is one of a small number of unique proofs before the edition of twenty, printed in different colour variations and on different papers. As far as we are aware it is only the second impression to have appeared at auction.
Also illustrated on the back cover
Baselitz's interest in mannerism, expressed as early as 1961 and reinforced by his scholarship at the Villa Romana in Florence in 1965, lead him to amass a large collection of Mannerist prints and drawings. In the present woodcut Grosser Kopf, the influence of the chiaroscuro woodcuts of the 16th century is evident in the use of a black line block and differently shaded colour blocks. This influence becomes even more apparent when we compare Baselitz's 'Rebels' and 'Partisans', which he painted and printed in this period, with the Gods and Saints of Ugo da Carpi, Domenico Beccafumi, Antonio da Trento or Hendrick Goltzius.
Grosser Kopf is one of the last, and the most monumental, of his early colour woodcuts. As a portrait it stands alone amongst the full-length figures - muscular, almost super-human figures in desolate landscapes. Yet this massive head is also one of those 'fallen heroes': Baselitz simply zoomed in on the head until it became larger than life, and dissected the face until it became a ravaged landscape itself.
The present impression, richly printed with an almost impasto effect in dark brown, green and black on a flesh-tone base, is one of a small number of unique proofs before the edition of twenty, printed in different colour variations and on different papers. As far as we are aware it is only the second impression to have appeared at auction.
Also illustrated on the back cover